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Welcome to Bet Sage's
Online Gambling News Section, featuring the latest breaking
gambling industry news courtesy of
InfoPowa
News. This is your
one stop source for all
and any of the latest
developments concerning
all aspects of the
Online Gambling
Industry. InfoPowa News
headed up by senior
partner Brian Cullingworth
are recognised as one of
the leading and most
respected independent
gambling news services
in the online gambling
industry.
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| 14
DECEMBER 2007 : HEADLINES |
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Calls for bipartisan effort to ensure Digital Civil Rights
The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA) may be in waiting mode pending a long overdue judgement on its challenge to the implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling and Enforcement Act, but it has remained active in carrying the fight to the United States government.
This week the feisty organisation filed its objections with the Department of Treasury over the agency's proposed regulations to support UIGEA, which seeks to hamstring online gambling operations by disrupting financial transaction channels. The new law, attached in the waning minutes of the 109th Congress to the unrelated Safe Ports Act with very little input from members of Congress, is a misguided and potential harmful attempt to regulate Internet content, the pressure group claims.
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A nice Christmas present for US online gamblers
Congressman Barney Frank's Internet Gambling and Enforcement Act, which seeks to regulate and license online gambling in the United States, has another co-sponsor. Signing up this week, and bringing the total political support for the IGREA to 45, was Representative Ellen O. Taucher, a Democrat from California's District 10 who is in her sixth term in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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Austrian-listed online betting group can operate in Germany
Gutsy Austrian betting group Bwin has achieved a qualified victory in its extensive litigation against German state protectionist moves, and can continue to offer sports betting in Germany with only minor restrictions after rulings by a German regional court were published this week, reports the Reuters news agency.
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Players lose another depositing option
Players at the popular online poker website PokerStars.com were disappointed to learn this week that they are to lose one of their depositing options.
Emails notified the players that the payTru VisaDebit card at PokerStars will be coming to an end in the near future.
"As of December 10, 2007 at 12:00pm EST, you will no longer be able to request cashouts to your payTru VisaDebit account from PokerStars," the corrspondence advised. "All cashouts requested before this time will be processed by December 13th.
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Betfair sponsored player becomes the youngest yet to win "Tournament Performance of the Year"
Betfair sponsored player Annette Obrestad has become the youngest player ever to win the Tournament Performance of the Year award at the prestigious European Poker Awards in Paris this week.
Her achievement at the World Series of Poker Europe presented by Betfair.com was recognised as phenomenal by Poker Europa Chief Nic Szeremeta who presented the award. She defeated opponents comprising of one of the toughest fields in poker to win more than $2 million (see previous InfoPowa report).
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Arizona Senator moves up in the Republican hierarchy
Online gambling's long standing arch-enemy, U.S. Republican Jon Kyl (65), is on his way up according to an article in the Arizona Republic this week. The Senator from Arizona won an uncontested party election to become the GOP's assistant leader, or minority whip.
The unanimous vote moved Kyl up the Republican ranks from the number 3 spot and put him in charge of counting votes and enforcing party discipline in a Senate controlled by Democrats.....with a national election on the horizon.
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UK firm Cashcade makes a Foxy move in acquiring bingo and other mobile games
Mobile gambling specialist company Cometa Wireless has signed a partnership agreement with Cashcade, an important UK online interactive gaming provider.
The agreement will see Cometa providing Cashcade with a complete mobile gaming solution � including Cometa's patented Arcadia technology and leading casino games portfolio.
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Mobile casino company wants a piece of a burgeoning French-language market
Gold Mobile Casino has big plans for the French-speaking mobile gambling market, and is looking for affiliate marketers to spearhead its efforts outside France, aided by the Income Access affiliate program managers.
The website is making a range of promotional tools available and recruiting professional affiliate marketers who understand the French market and customer.
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Octavian International joins the growing PN stable - focus is on high margin gaming technology
Online gaming technology provider PacificNet, Inc. just keeps on growing, it appears, with the announcement this week that the Asian group has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100 percent ownership of Octavian International Limited, a worldwide supplier of gaming technology, solutions and systems.
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It's looking increasingly unlikely that owed employees outside Antigua will be paid
Formerly Costa Rican based employees of the now defunct online gambling group BetonSports, which fell victim to the US Department of Justice last year (see previous InfoPowa reports) received discouraging news regarding their severance pay this week - and it must be hoped that players are not in for similar disappointment.
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The ultimate wall-crawler now on the Web!
Online slot fans with a penchant for comic superheroes can enjoy a major treat this week as the latest tranche of new games from Cryptologic goes live at licensees. And the package contains the latest Marvel world-saver slot, Spider-Man.
Spidey remains hugely popular with the public, as evidenced by the latest in the Spider-Man movies, which grossed over $336.5 million over the northern summer and is generating major DVD and rental sales going into winter. And judging by the popularity of other exclusively licensed online games released by Crypto like X-Men, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man and Ghost Rider, the genre has plenty of marketing legs left yet.
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Online poker giant offers beta version for Mac clients
The Internet's biggest poker website, PokerStars.com has just released a beta Apple version of its gambling software that will be welcomed by the thousands of Macintosh users who traditionally have strong loyalty ties to their operating system of choice.
The release follows months of play-money testing, and the initial reaction of Mac players to the advent of the real-money product has thus far been very positive. Obviating the need to use third-party Windows emulator products, the Mac version of PokerStars will be familiar to traditional Windows users, lacking only the Layout Manager and Preferred Seat features in its current beta format.
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Neptune Casino to swallow up Trident Lounge and Vegas USA
The Gibraltar-based online poker operator Mansion is putting tournament control in the hands of players who want to design their own Internet tournaments with the introduction of a new player-friendly feature this week.
The new facility empowers players to control and host their own online poker tournaments for no extra cost than the tournament entry fee, and from as low as a $5 buy-in.
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Borderless nature of the Internet debated
After a brief lull, Betfair's Australian arm challenge of a Western Australian state betting exchange ban continues in the High Court today (Monday) with the liklihood of further fireworks.
Last month, the first days of the litigation saw Chief Justice Murray Gleeson and Justice Michael Kirby carry out a tough examination of WA's main argument: that the legislation is aimed at protecting the integrity of racing from those who bet on horses to lose, reports Business Australia.
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Extensive upgrade for a popular product
Gritty Brit boxer Ricky Hatton's dramatic 10th-round defeat in the WBC welterweight title bout in Las Vegas over the weekend has probably saved UK bookies from their biggest-ever drubbing on bets made on a British sportsman.
Up to GBP 20 million was gambled on the big fight and a win for the plucky Manchester fighter - dubbed The Hitman for his undefeated record prior to Vegas - could have landed an eight-figure knockout blow on bookies.
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UK mobile company develops an iPhone gambling capability
London-listed mobile technology company Probability plc, successfully demonstrated a gambling service running on an Apple iPhone last week, leading the mobile gambling field in the technology.
The company has developed a fully working version of Blackjack, boasting that it is the first online casino game to have been built and demonstrated in real money play mode on an iPhone in the UK.
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Property group Richardsons has bought 9.3 percent of gambling group
The UK gambling group Rank plc, which has successful online gambling operations, has been the centre of attention on the London market over the past two weeks, first rejecting an attempt by US giant Harrah's to acquire a 28 percent interest, then having to accept the accretive acquisition of 10 percent of its shares by Malaysian casino group Genting Berhad.
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Swedish skill games for Danish television
A deal negotiated some weeks ago (see previous InfoPowa report) has been sealed this week between the Swedish skill gaming firm Jadestone and Danish television network TV2. The partnership will see the game developer bringing TV2 into its GamArena skill gaming network and providing it with an Internet version of the popular football game Championship Manager Online under license from UK publisher Eidos.
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White label provider and UK newspaper group in online poker room deal
The Gibraltar-based white label provider St Minver has clinched a deal with the UK newspaper group Associated Newspapers to provide its free circulation morning newspaper Metro with Internet bingo and poker facilities. The games will be provided via the Metro.co.uk website.
Metro has a wide readership in 13 British cities and was founded in 1999. The publication has grown to be one of the top free newspapers on the planet and the fourth largest newspaper in the UK, with over 1.1 million copies distributed to commuters each day and over 1.8 million unique visitors a month to its website.
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For the second consecutive year poker is most searched
Lycos Inc., a provider of social publishing, media and search services, has announced its 8th annual list of top 50 search terms for the year 2007, based on The Lycos 50, a weekly list of the most popular people, places and things Lycos users search for every day.
The Lycos 50 Top Search Terms of 2007 list is based on Lycos user searches from January 1, 2007 through December 1, 2007, with the Top Ten terms for the year 2007 as follows:
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Good on you, Emily!
The Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, a UK-based pressure group promoting the regulation of Internet gambling, has drawn attention to a British government recommendation to the United States that regulation and not prohibition is the way to go.
The contentious trade dispute between the European Union and the U.S.A. over Internet gaming industry has seen claims that are potentially worth billions submitted through the World Trade Organisation, and the British government has said it favours U.S. regulation of Internet gambling in preference to prohibition.
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Police dramatics may have been enhanced by presence of a reality television crew
Readers may recall an InfoPowa story last week in which we reported on a raid earlier this year by Texas authorities on a Veterans of Foreign Wars post holding a poker tournament to raise funds for charity. The raid effectively closed the post, prompting an expose of the event by comedian Drew Cary, but further details of the overly dramatic police bust appeared in US media this week.
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Thanks to Liberal Senator George Baker, a legal ban is avoided
Story of the week comes from Ottawa, Canada, where an alert Liberal politician flagged a dangerous clause in a government "housekeeping" bill that could have made online gambling in the Great White North illegal.
Hats off to Liberal Senator George Baker, who stepped in at the crucial moment to halt the innocent-looking clause in the bill, according to a report in the Law Times.
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Friday deadline for US compensation response
After years of litigation, political manouevring and agreed postponements of previous deadlines, it looks as if Friday this week may see some firm developments in the United States response to its World Trade Organisation dilemma.
Mark Mendel, a private attorney representing Antigua, told Reuters ahead of an expected ruling by the WTO arbitration panel on Friday that he expects to succeed with a claim for compensation that could be worth up to $3.44 billion a year in "cross retaliation" moves as a response to US actions against the Antiguans over online gambling.
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An unhappy sequel to a disquieting affair
The online poker operator Full Tilt Poker.com took swift and credible action some weeks ago when it examined and found wanting the big money tournament play of Chris Vaughan, the managing editor of Bluff Magazine, following a complaint by an opponent (see previous InfoPowa reports)
Vaughan and the formidable 21 year old Internet poker ace Sorel Mizzi subsequently bared their souls and apologised for their actions in an interview with Poker News, acknowledging the personal price they had had to pay in terms of disqualified winnings and damaged reputation, but the matter has not ended there - at least as far as the misguided Vaughan is concerned.
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But not about the day in court he still awaits after 18 months of house arrest
In July 2006, a seemingly routine business flight from London via the USA to Costa Rica turned into a long-running nightmare for the then CEO of the powerful BetonSports online gambling group, David Carruthers. Arrested on US Department of Justice sealed warrants on a raft of accusations that covers some 22 felonies, Carruthers found himself treated as a common criminal and detained.
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Hobday claims good potential for organic growth
British online gambling group Sportingbet plc has announced financial results for its first quarter ended 31 October 2007, reporting a net loss of GBP 1.7 million.
Before charging exceptional items, fair value restatements and amortization, the company reported earnings per share of 0.8 pence, up from 0.3 pence in the same quarter year earlier.
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Dublin-based online gambling software developer invests in Singapore company
In a $6.1 million deal that will deliver games from a top Asian developer and improved access to the burgeoning mobile gambling market, Cryptologic has acquired a substantial stake in Mikoishi Studios, an Asian game development and design company with strong capabilities in the mobile gaming market.
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Online gambling exec thinks it may have
Speaking to the UK newspaper The Evening Standard following the release of his company's Q1 results this week, the Sportingbet plc CEO Andy McIver suggested that the Internet poker juggernaut may be losing some momentum.
"There has been a lot of hype in internet poker and that has now come off a bit,' said McIver, the top man in a company that closed the once powerful Paradise Poker website earlier this year, migrating players to the Boss Media network in a major industry deal.
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Online poker had more downs than ups for poker ace Phil Ivey this week
According to the High Stakes Poker Database, a website that monitors high-stakes online poker games, top international pro player Phil Ivey had a pretty bad day at his Full Tilt Poker "office" this week, losing two massive Omaha pots to Finnish online competitor Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies.
HSPD has one of the pots listed as the sixth-biggest of all time online. Full Tilt's ultra high-stakes table has been dubbed the "Ivey Thunderdome," by FT insiders, but it was more like a thunderstorm for Ivey as the cards went against him in a match between experts.
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Almost $274 000 goes to Canadian player
Canadian online gambler Cathy is among the first big winners in RealTime Gaming's latest progressive slot Jackpot Pinatas, taking down a $273 984.94 jackpot this week at Club World Casino.com.
The big win came on a $5 bet, and follows news of a massive jackpot hit of GBP 1 103 047 earlier on by an as yet unidentified player on Cryptologic's Millionaire's Club progressive (see previous InfoPowa report)
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Hot Internet poker ace truimphs in Tournament Titan
For the last few weeks Internet poker ace Sorel Mizzi has had a lot of negativity to contend with following his run-in with Full Tilt Poker, along with Chris Vaughan, the ex-managing editor of Bluff Magazine. Both men were caught cheating in an online poker tournament at Full Tilt, and this resulted in their win being disqualified and the confiscation of significant winnings.
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Poor bingo and casino results blamed
Online gambling group Rank plc was in the business news spotlight again this week, with dismal news that the group has scrapped its final dividend as a result of indifferent results from its bingo and casino operations. The group has been a target for at least three companies recently buying in to its shares despite difficult trading conditions as a result of taxation and stricter anti-smoking laws.
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Website will promote and sell welfare lottery products
Pacific Net subsidiary Guangdong Poly (see previous InfoPowa reports) was launched this week, delivering a website branded Lot888.com that will promote and sell legal welfare lottery products to the massive Chinese gambling public.
Sales are facilitated by an integrated payment gateway linked to China UnionPay, China�s only countrywide payment solution which has 1.3 billion cards in circulation, primarily in mainland China.
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Full information and betting facilities will be provided to Youbet.com subsidiary
Youbet.com subsidiary United Tote has signed a multi-year agreement with Phantom Fiber Corporation to deliver a mobile phone wagering solution fully integrated with the totalisator systems used by UT customers.
The mobile service, which can be delivered on a wide variety of cellular phones, will let players view race programs, place wagers, manage their accounts and view historical transactions.
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888.com celebrates its tenth year, and a new responsible gambling website
Now in its tenth operational year, the Gibraltar-based online gambling group 888.com has launched a new website dedicated to responsible gaming at 888 Responsible.com. The website is part of 888.com's extensive social responsibility program, and launches in synch with the company's certification by Gamcare.
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13 game package to be delivered across Gala Coral websites
WagerWorks/IGT is rounding off 2007 with another significant online gambling deal, this one with the major UK gambling group Gala Coral. Starting this week, WW will be providing premium branded games for the Gala Coral gaming platforms through the new WagerWorks rgs (remote game server) system.
Gala Coral has contracted to integrate the new WagerWorks rgs system to its existing i-gaming platform. As part of the package, Gala Coral will leverage 13 of WagerWorks� top performing games including Monopoly, Wheel of Fortune, Elvis, The 50 000 Pyramid, The Price Is Right, Jeopardy! and Cluedo, together with the recently released MegaJackpots, which offer the largest online start and reset jackpot value yet of GBP 1 500 000, although big wins like this are paid in instalments.
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An appropriate dedication for a legendary poker player
Only days after the tragic news that legendary poker player Chip Reese (56) had been found dead in his home from as yet undisclosed causes, the World Series of Poker organisers, Harrah's, has decided to honour the memory of a great player. To do this, a trophy for the $50 000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. event will in future be named after him.
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Just in time for the season of giving, new mobile poker game released
Ace online and land international player Gus Hansen will be pleased that the Gameloft software developers have delivered his new Million Dollar Poker mobile game in time for the season of giving. The game has been under extensive development and testing (see previous InfoPowa report) and was released this week.
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Would you like the assurance of a guaranteed minimum number of hands or "spins" for your deposit?
Land casino slot developers have apparently encountered some resistance to a new concept that on the face of it might appeal to slot players - a guaranteed minimum number of hands or "spins" for each deposit.
In an interesting article on the concept this week, the Las Vegas Sun reported that gamblers are apparently wary of the new feature, initially hailed as a revolution in the casino industry so promising as to seduce gamblers who normally would walk right by slot machines.
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Kamay Holdings signs up with Gibraltar-based group
888.com has added another white label deal to its online gambling activities following agreement this week with the little known Kamay Holdings Limited, which 888.com revealed would be operating both online casino and poker venues under undisclosed brands. The Gibraltar-based 888.com will provide the gambling software, with a launch date of early January 2008 planned.
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Online gambling trade association and state monopoly bodies cross swords
Clive Hawkswood, the CEO of trade organisation the Remote Gaming Association was quick to discount claims by monopolistic bodies this week that state gaming monopolies are necessary to prevent corruption in sport - an interesting alternative to the usual argument that monopolies protect the public morals!
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Brand is split for easier navigation
The Gibraltar-based online gambling group Mansion has made it easier for players to find their gambling destination of choice by splitting its branding into online casino and online poker websites.
This week Mansion.com launched a dynamic new portal design that introduces two distinct microsites, Mansion Casino.com and Mansion Poker.com, designed with the player uppermost in mind.
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Atlantic Sportsbet website now live with BEToptions online gambling platform
The Melbourne, Australia-based sportsbetting software developer BEToptions has launched a sportsbetting website for South African based Atlantic Sportsbet.
BEToptions, which also has offices in Europe and South Africa, is a software company that specialises in the delivery of race sports betting systems to clients worldwide, offering a system that powers some of the busiest retail, internet and call-centre operations in the world. The company employs 20 staff members and is focused solely on racing and sports wagering.
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Four new non-executive directors come aboard
Still feeling the pinch from its enforced retirement from the US online gambling market following the advent of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act last year, and waiting to hear what the US Department of Justice has to say about its pre-UIGEA activities, Party Gaming brought four new directors aboard this week.
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